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Hey all, I’m back from another fun morning at Blue mountain the true mountain. I arrived at the lower lot before 720am and in the house were Mixilplix, Atomic Jeff, JFDan, MBike Mike, Nastar Glenn, Mrs. Snowbunski, Mute, Ryan, Boo Bear, Becky Boo, Mark, Harold, NMSki, BenM and many others. The temperature began in the mid 20s under partly sunny sky’s. First civilian OG six pack to challenge which was a carpet on the first two runs then sidewinder which was super nice. Then Main Street which was nice but a little slicker as they blue some snow on it. Switchback was good and coming soon was nice chalky snow. Crowds were moderate to heavy not crazy but busy. I skied challenge again, Main Street two more times and sidewinder again…fun parking lot with chips and Girl Scout cookies. I won’t be back at Blue for almost two weeks, off to Jackson hole Tuesday for my 21st trip there. JADIP

It's been a minute since I rode in that kind of temp. Rolled in at 1°. First hour you could really lay it down. Fast as you want. Some granola clusters here an there but nothing to stop the fun. After nine lines grew pretty quick. Toes started gettin chilled by 9:30 so called it... Shout out to Becky Boo for comin through with the cookies. Perfect for snackin on the drive home...

Day 29. Another gorgeous day. Hard to pick which ones to post. Inversion day with diamond dust in the air.l

My friend and I skied to the Maroon Bells today. Longest I have ever XC skied, 12.5 miles. Thought we would coast down, but no, still had to work. Think my shoulders are the most sore. It hurt just taking off my backpack. temps were mid 20’s and overcast. Strong head winds after mile 3. They run snowmobile tours and that company puts in a classic track. Was great in some spots, disappeared in others. Looking forward to a very lazy morning tomorrow.

@JFskiDan should have to give his GS cookies back for no shout out Skied with the family for 4 runs until they went in for hot chocolate. Had solo laps until the lines and cold made me say parking lot time. Lazy was surprisingly bad for how cold it is. Sidewinder was my ROTM.

Driving to Albany later tonight then hitting Magic tomorrow. Staying in Maine Sunday and Monday nights, planning on Saddleback Monday and probably Tuesday unless I feel like paying for Sugarloaf or Sunday River. Staying at Burke Tuesday night and riding there Wednesday. Not sure on the plan after that. Either Jay or somewhere in NH Thursday then start making my way back and probably a short session somewhere Friday. Snow and beer reports to follow after tomorrow

After lunch, I headed back out. Did Sorcerer and Talisman again, then two runs on twilight zone. Left around 1 and stopped at a new brewery about a mile away, Twisted Horn. They weren't serving anything on draft yet due to legal stuff but I sampled their American pale ale and hazy IPA. Picked up a 4 pack of the pale ale. After that, I left for Saddleback. It was snowing a lot so it took longer than expected. At a brew pub in Rangeley Maine now, got an IPA and blueberry BBQ chicken pizza

Atomic Jeff, Mixlplix, Dirtwolf, , oh yeah Johnnystyle for 10 mins, Mbike too. second chair, Challenge good, really cold, Exploding beers. Short parking lot sesh, cold. blah blah blah, blabedty blah, kinda busy.

1/24/2025 The plan was to get down to Waterville around 8am for a 9am open, until i checked my email and found one from Waterville. For some reason I opened it to find they open at 8am for the comp weekend. Scrambled around a bit to get going and arrived at 6:49 to some flurries and mostly cloudy skies. Booted up and made our way up tot eh lodge to get passes and spectator tickets. Upstairs in the lodge the competitors were booting up and getting ready by hopping on tables and running around the place. Slim and I were early, so headed out and lined up, being the only 2 people at the quad. The clock struck 8 and they rang a bell over the lodge to open the place! Blue should take note! Up the quad you get a good view of the course on Lower Bobby’s run, named after Bobby Kennedy who used to ski it. Took the short run down on just absolutely beautiful packed talcum powder snow, definitely the best snow of the week. Up the Sunnyside triple and right back down True Grit that’s steep and fast with some wind blown goodness on the right side. Back up the triple and took a run down Bobby’s to check out the course. This run is freaking steep and it’s amazing these bumpers rip down this and then hurl themselves off the jumps. Met up with the others and made our way down tot eh lodge Psyched that was left ungroomed and had enough natural on it to ski the bumps. The first round was staring so made our way back to Bobby’s to catch some of the runs. Standing along the course for any length of time is tough as it’s so steep. After lunch we decided to check out some woods we saw on the trail map. Found the entrance that looked a bit sketchy, well, a lot sketchy but we dropped in anyway. Bad decision!! It dropped off quick into a minefield of rocks, limbs, logs, sticks…. It was a big effort to make our way out of that mess. Headed back to the spectator area to watch the semifinals. Standing there we got cold and I heard “BEER” off in the distance, so headed back down tot eh lodge meet up with the wife in the lounge. We watched the final runs in the bar. Two of the US girls took 2nd and 3rd and Nick Page took 2nd in the men’s. Headed down to the town of Waterville and grabbed some slices of pizza before the ceremonies and came across Wayne Wong. The legs and body are beat and ready for a break. Another fun Indy/Mogul comp trip in the books!

Maybe Camelback will put a stop in BenM's backyard so people from Camelback can stop by and see him. Maybe the Camel mascot will even pay BenM a visit. That would be sick!

Even the most stubborn property owner has a price…a couple pallets of miller lite and a free season pass I bet @Benm can be bribed.

Magic...pretty good and not crowded at all. Got on the snow shortly after 8 30. Did 2 runs down Sorcerer which had a few slick spots and some bumps that were fun. Then hit up your sleeve, which was a fun intermediate bump run. After that I did 2 runs on Talisman...super fun. Whales everywhere that are getting bumped up. After that, I hit a few glades...pixie dust and Seance...thin cover but fun. Had a fiddlehead IPA and grilled chicken sandwich around 11

Thanks for shouting out Pops and Enjo..I’d be curious how many gallons of hot cocoa Blue goes through during a cold mid winter weekend..I remember when Matt Edge got free cocoa at Blue…a little is ok but too much and you might end up in a cemetery… @saltyant yesterday even though I didn’t ski I woke up early to watch the webcams…and yeah I kept my pecker in my pants…wow I did one of those Donald Trump weaves

@saltyant remember when you used to be a Jerry…now you take off your skis before boarding gondolas and nastar Glenn is speedy Gonzalez that mofo passed me the other day on lower main..aye caramba..and Nastar Glenn is a legend and legends rule!!!

Oh you’re welcome and anytime.

Let us know how camelback is next weekend. You’ll want to go somewhere farther north and high elevation to get acclimated for your Vermont and Colorado trips!!!

That was awesome by an employee who’s name is also a birds name and shares the name of somebody who steals from the rich and gives to the poor…I’m not giving any more clues but that horseshoe area at Blue is dangerous…when busy and I want to get to the quad from Main Street, I cut across above Central Park even though I lovE me some barbs almost as much as I love carbs.

My favorite quote in line was something like "i understand what you're saying but you're wrong"

Nah just illustrating that I had an obstructed view of the hill which is normal. Also @saltyant was in the house.

1) Blue for some reason looks like a monster in your pic (the angle maybe). 2) I'm jelly I missed today I had a feeling it was gonna be good.

Unfortunately it's somewhat low-tide condition-wise up there. Waterville definitely had the best and most snow, but even they didn't have everything open.

Word on the street is Stevenson temporarily stopped running this afternoon, but now it's running again. I guess it got tired out and needed a break. It's probably jerry-rigged to save a few pennies so they can pay their executives to brainstorm on ways to drive away customers more efficiently.

They should build a big bubble over the mountain and just turn the ski area into a giant water park. You know its what they want to do.

Nice reports. I may hit somewhere in NH next week also

Been riding Brekenridge, Stowe and Loon a lot depending on where I can stay. Since IKON I'll pick up a few days at Blue. I went to Camelback for the first time in about 10 years last year and was disappointed both visits. I won't be going back especially since they are not 100% open this late in the season. Management 17 years ago did a hell of a lot better job than what they are doing now. When I was there they used to rent about 5 or 6 industrial compressors to increase air so they could have more guns running at max capacity and worried about getting fully open then go back over it and make it deep to cover bad weather. Obviously from what I seen is that Camelback cares more about the water park and hotel more than the skiing part of their business. It is pretty bad that I can go to Camelback because it is included on my IKON except for parking and won't even go there it is so disappointing. Their parking prices for the weekend are higher than parking in the heated Vail Village parking garage for a full day. It is insane. Their season pass prices Blue/Camelback with the add on is as much or more than a full IKON pass then from what I read you can't even get early access if you go to the other mountain in the morning because the computers don't even talk to each other. What a joke. There is too much to unravel in a post about how bad it is.

1/23/2025 Up at the usual 0 dark thirty and made ready for an hour or so drive over to Black Mountain. Over hill and Dale, passing by the amount Washington resort and Attitash and finally ending up at Black, a tiny podunk family ski area that exudes the original charm of skiing. The one triple chair that only goes 2/3 of the way up wasn’t running, but the main double donkey was, so we boarded that towards the peak. Up through the woods you come upon a mid station when you could drop off to avoid the peak or just hit the little LOSTBO hut where they have music blasting, a deck with fire pit and beach chairs out on the snow, which we found odd until after lunch, when the Sun broke out. Black is different in that the mountain faces South, and their motto Ski in the Sun became evident. Every trail was lit up like springtime in the middle of winter. Up on the peak you could see for miles and miles, Attitash off to the left and Mount Washington on the right. Unfortunately another mountain that would bee a hoot had it been a good snow year. They have ample snowmaking, but the real fun runs rely on natural, especially the winding Upper Galloping Goose right under the lift. We did the tour of open runs, all of which had beautiful, soft, well-groomed snow. The runs are fast and quite steep and very tight through the woods. The place was empty and we made fun when a second row of 10 or so cars appeared. We had to stop in the LOSTBO shack for kicks to see what it had. A range of snacks hung on the wall, some brats rolling on the hot dog cooker, beer, wine, etc. we opted for cider and hot chocolate and Tom the tender, a Boston transplant was very willing to tell the tales of Black and its savior Indy who’s committed to keeping the mountain going, but doesn’t want to own the land, where the hopeful co-op takes over. He also told us from where the LOSTBO name originated that’s all around the mountain. Evidently Les Otten at one time promised to buy the mountain and make the owners wealthy but backed out at the last minute after having them cut out the expert terrain at the top. Sitting around pissed at him for backing out the one came up with Les Otten Sucks The Big One and so it stuck. He also told us of Friday night skin up, party and ski down nights that sounds crazy fun. The place is tre-cool and a throwback to the old days of skiing and we were all glad to get there. On the ride back passing the Mount Washington inn, the sun was setting and lighting up the Presidentals, spectacular! Stopped at Rek-lush brewery on the way back for some dinner

Hey All, I’m back from another fun morning at Blue mountain the true mountain. I arrived at the lower lot around 835am and once again they had the southwest part of the valley lot closed so I parked in Kansas. It was about ten degrees at the base and high teens at the summit under sunny skys with minimal wind. In the house were NmSki, Johnny law, C1er, Nastar Glenn and atomic Jeff. We began on the super summit safari six pack and it stopped when we got on and stopped again for a few minutes. Main Street was western groomer. Over to the quad and I skied challenge four times in a row and wow was it a freaking carpet and no people on it. The line for the quad was getting long so back to the SSSS. Down Widowmaker to chute to lower Main Street and chute had a little ice. Only real ice I found all day. I skied Main Street again and then they opened the OG six and it stopped a few times. I skied sidewinder which was nice but crowded, challenge again and ended on Razors Driving back Blue mountain drive was closed right at the upper entrance so had to take the long way home through paradise. Now at work like a dork have some lady who’s tombstone is wrong..JADIP

Night session at Blue. Better price tonight than an epic ticket at Ski Roundtop or even old Shawnee. Scored a very close spot at the top at 4. Stellar packed powder conditions surely top tier for Pennsy. Certainly appreciated the ability to ski the trees especially off of coming soon, and I even had the antique skis out so the rocks were no dramas. Wish they were still open to 10/11/midnight rather than 9 it was still packed at closing bell. My first ride on the main street sixer (last few times I was here in the spring and it was not running); still ambivalent, I miss my old pal the Hall double doubles which always had a short line and got you to the top in style without skiing the silly runout at the valley lodge. They need to put some disco lights on the runout like they have on the tubing area, those looked sweet. People here were not doing a great job fitting themselves in quads and sixes on the lifts to capacity. Barneys bumps were bulletproof but the snow right next to them was loose and made for some nice turns. Sidewinder was quite nice and turnable maybe nicest snow of tonight. Razor's edge was fast and is always a treat. Good to see that all the ski clubs are here and having fun. Agree with 11/10 rate of the day. Other stats include 4 for 5 (Don't worry, the mini meisers are 1/2 size) aiming the beverage containers into the rubbish buns, 2 swooshes unaided by the chute - Surely room for improvement. Vail took away the shooter chutes from under the lifts at Ski Roundtop™ just like they took away the Ski(™) from Ski Roundtop™ because Vail is lame - Now they have a pile of garbage under the lifts - metaphoric in a sense. Blue wins this time. Blue Knob also wins because the lower mountain is open tomorrow which you should definitely ski while you can.

And still more.

More day 28.

More day 28. I've got a bad case of rural internet today.

/Day 28. Eat your heart out... Actually, things are starting to get quite scraped off. We need snow. I tried to post so many pictures things kept crashing, so sending in batches.

Took off work next week...no idea where I'm going but probably drive north starting tomorrow night for an indy pass adventure.

11 out of 10 day and people will still fuss

What a morning.....There are few things better than formation flying with the crew on a Friday morning with most excellent conditions. Razors was absolutely mint, at one point I took half a turn to take it all in. Sun shinning Atomic out front, gss and nm on the wings, everyone just arcing the shit out of it and you get that feeling where you feel bad for non skiers. Like wtf did you do this morning....close the Johnson account? All of it is very very good but it's hard to turn down max slutty razors so it was one other and then a razors, rinse and repeat. Beg,borrow, steal but get out there and get some before it's a memory and we are back to the regular stuff. I cannot recall a better stretch in recent years and I don't know that it had this kind of grip.

And I'm losing control because the power Blue's supplying, it's electrifying. Nobody home, for the first time in two seasons I saw nobody I knew. It's obviously cold but with the sun and no wind it wasn't brutal. My toes did get a bit cold which is quite the accomplishment. The snow was super mega grip western groomer. Very dry and slow for blue standards, as the water is evaporating what's left behind is like a malformed dendritie or more accurate a round with fuzzy gripy fingers. Main first thing was just set it and forget it, whatever speed/turn shape you wanted. It was effortless and pure skiing. After dicking around over by main I went Razors as with the slower snow you just couldn't get to that top gear. Razors the entire way was just do whatever the fuck you want, many times there was no one on the trail and my God is nice to let the dogs out at blue. Ditch was good but the coming soon headwall was the only not great thing I found. Alas there is bad news to share as they have put 10000 features on nmdw, lots and lots of rails including one right in the kill box of the first turn. You can still find a way through but you can put a fork in it if you like the turn. Hopefully the low crowds are maintained through the weekend.

Day 27. Another bright blue day.

Honestly have no idea on the plows, I think the city of Virginia Beach has a fair amount as we do get a lot of ice down here. VDOT has a bunch but they need to be sent down from NOVA/Richmond area. They did a good job clearing the main roads, side roads not so much. we pay a “snow removal” fee with my HOA every year, never gets used. The one year we do get accumulating snow they don’t send anyone out. Email from the HOA basically said “it’ll melt before we can get the crew out”. 2 days later, the road infront of my house still looks like the picture above. I had a huge shit eating grin on my face passing people in SUVS while driving my little beater Fiesta having no issues getting around.

I'd probably do an evening sesh if they offered it, that was fun back in the day until Mattie stepped in and started yelling at everybody

@AtomicSkier and I did some more recon on another area near blue last night. ~950 verticals. Has the potential to be a very fun little lap but needed a bit more snow to really go.

And it’s still 1/22/25. Guess I’m hoping it’s like Groundhogs Day and stays on repeat. Back for more today. All trails were in tip top shape. Awesome, fun and squeaky snow. I’m loving it. It can stay like this from now until April.

Total gift of a day.

Yes, it was cold - However no substantial wind or lift lines with almost every (They're building features on NM/DW) trail delivering sweet, groomed cord did not allow cold to be an issue. Completed the tour de blue in between the race clinic - Every run was enjoyable, crowd free carving at speed. It will be a good day tomorrow, unfortunately have to a get back to collecting bio-support tickets.

Glad she’s ok. Nothing is scarier than your kid needing a toboggan ride down the mountain.

If I'm them I don't see any reason to blow during the day unless the wind is cooperating, the next 5 nights are super cold and they can make as many piles as they want.

I saw that about wildcat on one of the forums. We should be glad blue and most resorts give it their all.

CBK doesn't want to operate the ski area anymore. They're focused on their waterparks. That leaves Blue and Shawnee. Blue is ridiculously crowded now and Shawnee is, well Shawnee. It's nice for what it is but it's small and doesn't even have the small geographic advantage of being on top of the plateau. Plus it's in an awkward location. It's the same drive to Montage as it is to Shawnee for me coming from Montgomery County.

The best part was when @nastar glenn was lagging behind getting on the chair lift and almost ended up on someones lap, maybe @mbike-ski. Then Nastar would have been flagged as Jerry Of The Day.

I love when @saltyant walked into the 750am lineup today at Blue, I asked him how camelback has been lately and his response was,”It fucking sucks” and my response was “there’s children around” and he said I don’t fucking care. At least he didn’t say the N word lol